Bye, Bye Berger!

Rumour has it that Tora Berger is going to retire after next season. She has let it be known that after this Olympic season she will hang up her skis for good. If she does stick to her decision she will be sorely missed.

Tora Berger was born on 18 March 1981 in Ringerike, Norway but she grew up in Lesja with her older brother Lars. She married her high school sweetheart in 2010 and lives in Meråker with her husband and 2 dogs. Away from biathlon Tora enjoys hunting, fishing, knitting and reading crime novels.

Tora has been competing in biathlon as a member of the Norwegian women’s team since 1999. However it has only been in the latter stages of her career that she has been successful. Somewhat surprisingly Berger had never been a World Cup winner either overall or in any of the individual disciplines until the end of the 2011/12 season.

However last season made up for that! Winning 11 races, being on the podium 19 times, winning all the Chrystal Globes, the Nation’s Cup for the women, the mixed and women’s relay titles on the World Cup was only part of a stellar season for Tora. In Nove Mesto she became the first biathlete to win 6 medals(4 gold and 2 silver) at a single World Championships, as well as the first woman to defend the 15km individual title.

So it’s no wonder she wants to retire, it’s going to be very hard to top last season’s amazing results! Luckily for Tora her final season includes the Sochi Olympics and provides probably the only way of topping last season by winning Olympic gold. Of course Tora being Tora she already has an Olympic gold medal from Vancouver in 15km individual. I’m sure she is hoping to go out on a high by defending that title and winning some more for good measure.

She will however be another year older and faces some stiff competition from the other female biathletes. But if she keeps up the amazing consistency from this past season I wouldn’t bet against her saying “bye, bye” to biathlon with a bunch of medals in her hand.